BUY JAGS TICKETS!!!!!!!!!!!

[cdb]

FDOT mowed over "GO JAGS!" visible from 9A North for years.  A couple weeks back, a lone fan took two days to go out, trim it up, and make it look better. All that work for nothing.  Bastards.

Hahahaha!!!!!!!!!!

The Frangie/Cole Pepper argument mentioned earlier in this thread was ridiculous. Frangie compared Jax to Charleston and Daytona. First off, Daytona is terrible, unless you are retired. Most people there with corporate jobs have to go to Jax or Orlando to work. And Charleston has a lot of history and a walkable downtown with actual stores and restaurants that are open past 5pm. Charleston also has a bunch of colleges and it is evident when you go there. Jax has some colleges, but unless you are on the campus, you can barely tell they exist. Jax has a lot to do and we all know that in a bunch of different areas and hopefully this city is going in the right direction. But to think losing the Jaguars wouldn't be a serious setback is ignorant.

[Steve]

Old Gator Bowl was fine. Most college stadiums only recently were fitted with seatbacks. Otherwise most are aluminum. We already had the Upper West Stands in concrete, so enhancements could have continued, as they did when the Jags moved in after the 95 renovations with the enclosure of the South End Zone and the Super Bowl enhancements.

Its like your house, you would never let it sit so long without improvements. Same with the stadium.

Sure mtrain.

Just ask Miami and the Orange Bowl or LA and the Coliseum.  The press jokes about the fact that during the last couple of years, they actually built a temporary press box, because the city of LA condemed the permanent one.  They really maintained the crap out of them.

[Shwaz]

Old Gator Bowl was fine. Most college stadiums only recently were fitted with seatbacks. Otherwise most are aluminum. We already had the Upper West Stands in concrete, so enhancements could have continued, as they did when the Jags moved in after the 95 renovations with the enclosure of the South End Zone and the Super Bowl enhancements.

Its like your house, you would never let it sit so long without improvements. Same with the stadium.

You're talking about the stadiums owned by the universities and colleges that belong to the team. Games like Fl / GA and conference championships that are played at neutral sites are all located in top notch stadiums not dumps like the old gator bowl.



The 95 renovations would never have happened if not for the Jags becoming a permanent tenant. The city is already taking funds from other projects to keep up with JMS... Why fix up a house that no one lives in but instead stays at only a couple times per year?

[Tripoli1711]

Right.  The Iron Bowl (Alabama-Auburn) was played in Birmingham at Legion Field for decades.  They stopped playing it there about 12 or 15 years ago.  Why?  The overwhelming reason was that Legion Field is old and decrepit.  I have been in that place for a World Cup Soccer qualifier in 2004 and left thankful that it didn't fall apart while I was there.  The Gator Bowl would be just as woebegone were it not for the renovations for the Jaguars, and Fla-Ga would be on campus (like the Iron Bowl is now).

[Tripoli1711]

And.. oh  yeah... Roll Tide!

[reednavy]

The Citrus Bowl will not get the green light from the NFL for any games there. That place is far from being up to standards. Case closed.

[DavidWilliams]

It will take a very extensive renovation on the Citrus Bowl or a ground up new stadium before this is even really conversation-worthy. Either option would be a minimum 3-5 years out in my opinion.

[mtraininjax]

There is NO way that Weaver would move a game to Orlando without MAJOR expansion of the SKYBOXES, which are where the Jags make money. They control those with the City and without them, there is MUCH less revenue for games. The Citrus bowl has very few luxuries at all in the stands. The only place I see them playing would be the UCF stadium, as it stands today.

[mtraininjax]

The 95 renovations would never have happened if not for the Jags becoming a permanent tenant. The city is already taking funds from other projects to keep up with JMS... Why fix up a house that no one lives in but instead stays at only a couple times per year?

You should go down to the LANDING and ask the owners of businesses that thrive for those games about the economic impact of the FL/GA game. The Gator Bowl Association estimates that a single college game, such as the Gator Bowl can have a 20-25 million dollar impact with dollars used 2-3x over as a result of the game. The FL/GA game is closer to 30-35 or more if Georgia wins and fans stay longer.

Do not overlook the obvious impact of the 2 games with or without the Jags. Most Jags fans are from around town, and do not have as much impact on the local economy for the games.

[Shwaz]

The 95 renovations would never have happened if not for the Jags becoming a permanent tenant. The city is already taking funds from other projects to keep up with JMS... Why fix up a house that no one lives in but instead stays at only a couple times per year?

You should go down to the LANDING and ask the owners of businesses that thrive for those games about the economic impact of the FL/GA game. The Gator Bowl Association estimates that a single college game, such as the Gator Bowl can have a 20-25 million dollar impact with dollars used 2-3x over as a result of the game. The FL/GA game is closer to 30-35 or more if Georgia wins and fans stay longer.

Do not overlook the obvious impact of the 2 games with or without the Jags. Most Jags fans are from around town, and do not have as much impact on the local economy for the games.

You're still missing the point. The FLA / GA contract would not have been renewed by the Universities with out a major overhaul of the old gator bowl.

The stadium as it stands today cost $168,000,000... would the business's at the landing be covering that cost if the Jags had not come to town?

Would the city have commit to those upgrades for a 6 year contract from the Universities and no permanent tenant?

[mtraininjax]

The FLA / GA contract would not have been renewed by the Universities with out a major overhaul of the old gator bowl.

You don't know that for sure, that is your GUT telling you. History says otherwise.

The fact of the matter is that the FL/GA game had been here for many years, and if the CITY paid out the money it pays out, it would not matter if they played it at the old GB or even at UNF's field. The lights, seats, and festivities make it easier for the City to get revenue they can share with the 2 schools, but since the game had been played in Jacksonville ALL THOSE YEARS prior to 1995, so long as the money was there for the schools, who is to say it would have ever moved? NFL came into being when? Prior to the changes for the Super Bowl the stadium seated a LOT fewer people as well.

NFL started in 1920, first Jax game for the 2 schools was 1915. from 1916-1933 the game rotated back and forth between the 2 school locations. So from 1934 till 1994 and 1995, they had the game at the GB. I am shocked and appalled that they did not look at sending it to Atlanta Fulton County Stadium where they could have raked in more money than the GB, what with all the suites and luxury boxes there. Maybe the draw of "chair backs" was not as great then as it is now? Probably not, I'd say it was and still is MONEY.

[Shwaz]

Gut feeling huh?

In the previous contract, the city paid about $1.4 million to construct a cement building in the south end zone to support temporary seating that is installed each year to bring the stadium’s capacity to 82,917.

http://jacksonville.com/sports/college/florida_gators/2009-09-23/story/florida_georgia_game_to_remain_in_jacksonville

This was obviously after the 94-95 renovations and the Universities still wanted more.

As for money... most of that comes from the t.v. contract and the city just rents the stadium for free or in this contract $1.

[copperfiend]

Old Gator Bowl was fine. Most college stadiums only recently were fitted with seatbacks. Otherwise most are aluminum. We already had the Upper West Stands in concrete, so enhancements could have continued, as they did when the Jags moved in after the 95 renovations with the enclosure of the South End Zone and the Super Bowl enhancements.

Its like your house, you would never let it sit so long without improvements. Same with the stadium.

The old Gator Bowl was a piece of crap. It was quite obvious to everybody. The Fla-Ga game is here in 2009 because of the new stadium. The new stadium that has skyboxes, club seats and terrace suites. The old Gator Bowl would not have kept this game. It seems quite obvious to everybody on this board but you.

[blizz01]

And in other (related) news, get ready for more Rams contraversy - this might take the edge off a bit:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-rams-ownership&prov=ap&type=lgns

[Jason]

Thanks for that one Blizz.